


Everything

by Jcapasso916



Series: Anything [2]
Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Supernatural
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 06:09:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7302676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jcapasso916/pseuds/Jcapasso916
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Anything</p><p>As Sam and Loki get more comfortable with their new relationship and with Loki's family, Dean is resurrected, new dangers arise, and old secrets are discovered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sam reluctantly let go of Loki so they could go down for lunch. He was still trying to come to term with the fact that he actually got to have this, not to mention that it was okay. That there was nothing wrong with it. It would take him some time to really come to terms with that, but he couldn’t not be happy overall. At least about this. As they sat down for lunch, Sam brought up something else that he had been thinking about a lot. “I was wondering…are you planning to tell me when…um…Dean is back?” 

“Do you want me to?” Loki asked curiously. He hadn’t really decided one way or another, but since Sam brought it up, he would get the hunter’s opinion. 

“I don’t know,” Sam said honestly. He didn’t know if it would make it easier or harder. “Probably yes,” he said with a shrug. The not knowing would probably hurt a lot worse than anything else. 

“Then I will,” Loki told him, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. They had just gotten together. Sam had just told him that he loved him. He wanted to ride that high a little longer before sad things intruded. 

“Thank you,” Sam said sincerely. “How long do you think it will be? I mean, it’s been three weeks already.”

“There are too many factors to give a good estimate. The angels have to fight their way to where he’s being held, which I’d guess would be somewhere pretty deep and high security, then bust him out and fight their way back out, then put him back together,” he said with a shrug. 

“How will you know? How did you know they were going after him in the first place?” Sam asked. 

“I have my ways,” Loki said cryptically. Of course the hunter had to ask the one question he couldn’t even begin to answer without blowing his cover. 

Sam wanted more of an answer, but given the fact that Loki had never refused to answer a question before, he would let this one go, though it made him even more curious as to what the answer was. It wasn’t like it mattered though. Loki would know, the how was inconsequential. 

Loki wanted to change the subject though, not only to distract from his non-answer, but also to get some of the happiness back. “So what were you planning for the rest of the day?” 

“I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead yet,” Sam said blushing knowing exactly why he hadn’t thought that far ahead. 

“Well I was thinking, if you want, we could take a walk around your trail with Blondie,” Loki suggested nonchalantly, hoping to get some more time with Sam, but not wanting to seem to clingy.

Sam smiled at him and said, “That sounds great.” He paused for a moment, not sure if it would be too much to ask, but decided to give it a shot anyway. “Would it be possible to have some seasons and stuff too? I mean if we’re gonna be here for the rest of my life, it would be nice to have a little variety.”

“Whatever you want, Samshine. Just let me know how you want to work it and I’ll make it happen,” he said cheerfully. 

“How I want to work it?” Sam asked. 

“Well obviously autumn is your favorite so if you want for example six months of autumn then two each of the others or just one of your least favorite or just two seasons alternating, it’s all in your hands. You can even set the high and low temperatures, though I’ll randomize them within that range just to make things more interesting. I can even throw in a few storms or whatever if you want. This is your paradise. You can make of it what you want.”

Sam blinked at him for a moment, completely overwhelmed with all the choices. “I…um…I’ll have to think about that.”

“Of course. Just let me know when you’ve decided, and you can always change your mind whenever,” Loki told him. 

After lunch they spent a leisurely afternoon walking around the property, holding hands and stealing kisses while the puppy alternated between running around their feet and darting to and fro in the woods. Sam was reminded of what Loki had said about this being his paradise and it definitely seemed like it right now as they talked about anything and everything under the sun. 

Over the next week the two gradually got more and more comfortable together, though there were still lines that Sam didn’t cross. Loki was sure that eventually he would ask the hunter for more, but for now he was fine with where they were. When he felt the disturbance that meant that Dean had been raised from hell, he didn’t tell Sam right away, just because the hunter was asleep and for the first time, he fell asleep with Loki and the trickster god just lay happily wrapped up in the hunter’s arms, surrounded by his warmth. He could tell him in the morning. 

The next morning Sam felt the warm body curled up to his side and opened his eyes slowly to see Loki looking down at him and he grinned and lifted his head for a kiss. Loki had made it clear that Sam was welcome to move into his room anytime he felt like it, and he had to admit it was nice. He had been worried about how he would sleep with Loki there, but he had actually never slept better. He wasn’t sure if it was just the god’s presence or if he had actively done something to help, but he liked it. 

Loki waited until they were sitting down to breakfast and Sam was a little more awake before dropping the bombshell. “So your brother was resurrected this morning,” he said bluntly, not having any idea how to make that information any more palatable. 

In hindsight, waiting until Sam didn’t have a mouth full of food may have been better though as the hunter choked on his eggs. Once Sam stopped choking, he said, “And you’re just now telling me?” 

“I didn’t have the heart to wake you up for bad news,” Loki said with a shrug. 

Sam could understand that, and it wasn’t like he kept it to himself for days or anything. “Can you…I mean…if it’s possible…” Sam couldn’t really find the words to continue. 

“Come on Sammykins. Spit it out.”

“I just…I need to know he’s okay…you know?” Sam said sadly. 

“So basically you just want someone to get eyes on him to make sure he’s good?” Loki tried to clarify. 

“It’s not that I don’t trust you! I just…”

“I get it Sam. Really. Give me a few days and let me see what I can do,” he told him. Loki may not be able to leave, but he didn’t think Hel would mind doing him a little favor. 

He waited until Sam went out for his morning run before calling Hel over. He wanted to get that conversation out of the way before Sam got back. He didn’t want the hunter to know that there was any danger in doing this, despite the fact that the danger was easily avoidable. It was only because it was so avoidable that he was doing this anyway. He wouldn’t put his family in danger to ease the hunter’s mind. 

“Father!” Hel exclaimed happily as she stepped inside and swept him into a hug. “I was surprised to get your invitation.” She knew that she was welcome anytime and often took him up on that but being specifically asked to come wasn’t something that happened often. 

“I need to ask you for a favor,” he said tentatively. He wasn’t one to ask for help often, and certainly not of his children. 

“Anything you need. You know that,” she assured him. 

“Well this is more for Sam than for me really,” he gave a half shrug and she gave him an indulgent look and motioned for him to go on. “Would you mind popping in on his newly resurrected brother? He just needs someone to see for themselves that he’s okay.”

“Absolutely. It’s the least I can do for making you so happy.”

Loki rolled his eyes at her fondly. “Yes well, just be careful. Make sure you don’t get spotted or even sensed by any angels. They’ll probably be crawling all over him for a while so you’ll have to find an opening.”

“I know better than that dad. I’m not a child you know,” she laughed. He really could be a worrywart sometimes. Avoiding angels was always a good idea and not just when you were harboring one of their most wanted. 

“I know. I just worry,” he said sheepishly. He had a bad feeling about this somehow, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. He knew Hel would be careful. She always was. He just hoped it was a byproduct of asking her to do something with even the remotest possibility of going bad.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Loki was on the couch cuddling with Sam when he heard the front door open again, followed by twin yells of, “Papi!” and two little missiles colliding with the now laughing duo on the couch as their father stood in the doorway laughing along with them. Fenrir strolled into the room and used his foot to reposition the old wingback chair so that he could better see the others as he plopped into it. 

“So what’s this I hear about you asking Hela for a favor instead of me?” he asked both amused and slightly put out. He was the oldest after all. 

“This favor requires finesse, Fenny. Discretion. Subtlety. In other words…not you,” Loki teased. 

“Hey! I can be discrete and subtle!” he protested. 

“Yeah, like a bull in a china shop,” Loki laughed. 

Fenrir chuckled as well but couldn’t hide his slight blush, knowing his father was right so he decided to turn the tables. “You two got things figured out yet?” he teased back. 

Loki knew what he was doing and didn’t rise to the bait. He just snuggled up to Sam with a happy, “Yep!” and Sam blushed bright red but nodded along with him. 

“Does that mean we can call you Isa now?” one of the twins asked Sam excitedly. 

That one got Loki to sputter a bit but more for Sam’s sake than anything else. “Um…we might want to wait a bit on that one kiddos.”

“What…” Sam asked looking curiously at Loki. 

“It means Grandpa,” Loki said sheepishly not looking at Sam. 

“Oh,” Sam said blushing even brighter. “Um…” It was a little sudden, but he couldn’t say he didn’t like the idea. He had always wanted a family, and sure he never figured he would start as grandpa, but if it made the kids happy… “I don’t mind…if they want…”

“Yay!” he got twin cries from the kids who had always wanted a second grandpa. 

Fenrir just couldn’t resist saying, “Does that mean I can call you dad?” Loki kicked at him, but Fenrir moved his leg in time for his father to hit the chair instead, which unfortunately for the wolf god, sent the chair tipping backwards and he hit the floor. The brief ‘what the hell just happened’ look on Fenrir’s face as he lay there was enough to have them all in hysterics. 

It had been almost lunch time when Fenrir and the kids popped by so they all sat down for a very amusing lunch, as any meal between Loki and Fenrir had a tendency to be, especially when the twin terrors were added in. After lunch they all hit the pool, as they usually did when the kids were there. One would think they were fish rather than pups. The following travesty had started simply. Loki made a smart ass comment and Sam splashed him. Of course Loki couldn’t take that lying down and sent a large wave right towards Sam who was left sputtering. Fenrir laughed and was always up for a good water fight so set out to even the odds and came to Sam’s defense, prompting the kids to Loki’s side. It didn’t take long before it was an all-out war between Loki and Fenrir with Sam and the kids just trying to survive the backlash and they all had a blast. Loki wouldn’t need to worry about watering the plants in the solarium anytime soon. 

When they got out in time for dinner, Sam realized where the kids got their habit of turning into wolves and shaking dry when Fenny did the same, of course making sure he was standing near Sam and Loki when he did. After a dinner that could have fed twenty, Fenrir rounded up the kids, hugged both Sam and Loki before waiting for the kids to do the same and headed home. 

Once they were alone, Loki turned to Sam and said seriously, “Are you sure you’re okay with the whole, Isa thing?” 

Sam thought about it again for a minute, trying to figure out how to put his thoughts into words that would convince Loki. “Yeah. I am. I mean, yeah, it seems like a big commitment, but really…no matter what happens with us, I’ll always be here, which means I’ll always be here for them, and whatever happens with us, I would never hold against them anyway, so even if we crash and burn, I can still be Isa to them,” Sam explained and then blushed a little. “Besides. It’s kinda nice to feel like part of the family,” he admitted. He had been both surprised and pleased when Fenny had sided with him in the pool and he didn’t even shy away from the shaggy man’s hug this time. 

Loki smiled brightly. He was glad to hear that. “Well if it helps, I know that Fenny and Hela both see you as part of the family already and the kids obviously do. Jormy will come around.”

Sam grinned and pulled Loki in for a kiss. “Good. I’m glad. So what say we take this party upstairs hmm?” Sam had been getting more and more bold and he had been considering crossing one of those invisible lines, and his current good mood was boding well for that thought. 

Loki, of course, didn’t have to be asked twice and practically skipped up the stairs. Sam had never really taken the lead in these things and he was more than happy to let the hunter indulge himself now. Sam apparently, had something on his mind first though, because once they were in the bed, Sam just propped himself up on his elbow and looked at Loki for a moment as though trying to find words. 

“So…um…” For some reason Sam still found such conversations embarrassing. “I was wondering…” Loki just raised an eyebrow waiting patiently. He knew that sometimes Sam needed some time to get the words out. “You know how you always…um…stretch me out before…so it doesn’t hurt…” Sam was bright red by now, but barreled forward. “Does it not hurt you?” he just blurted out. 

Loki’s lips twitched as he fought his amused reaction. It was hard enough for Sam to talk about this stuff without thinking that Loki was laughing at him. “When you’re as experienced with such things as I am, there isn’t more than a slight burn. Easily ignored. Not that the additional attention wouldn’t be nice whenever you’re comfortable with it, but it’s not necessary.” Loki realized now why Sam hadn’t been topping so much since they had gotten together. He had been worried about hurting him and maybe even about feeling obligated to do something he wasn’t comfortable with if he had this conversation. Loki pulled him down for a slow sweet kiss. “Don’t worry so much Samshine. I’ll let you know if you hurt me, okay?” Not that it was likely to ever happen, but it wouldn’t hurt to reassure the hunter. 

Sam grinned and kissed him again, more firmly, as he rolled on top of Loki. He was a little nervous about what he was about to do, these last lines he was about to cross, but he wanted to so his pushed his nerves and fears away as he slid his lips and teeth and tongue over the deity’s neck and collarbones while rolling his hips over Loki’s. They hadn’t bothered putting shirts back on after the pool and were even still wearing their swim shorts so there were very few clothes in the way from the start, as Sam kissed and nipped over Loki’s chest, pausing to tease the trickster’s nipples along the way. 

When Sam’s mouth dipped down over Loki’s stomach, the god’s breath hitched. Oh please let this be going where he thought it was going. The idea of getting Sam’s mouth on his cock was nearly enough for him to blow right then and there. Sam hesitated at the waistband of Loki’s shorts, and Loki was so far gone that he didn’t give a shit about not pushing right now. “OhgodpleaseSam,” he choked out bucking his hips slightly. “Please…fuck…keep…keep going…Sam…god.”

Sam moved down and placed his lips against Loki’s rock hard erection, not moving his shorts yet as he worked up his nerve. He ran his mouth roughly up his length, before taking a deep shaky breath and sliding Loki’s shorts down. Oddly enough, Loki’s pleas were just making him even more nervous. It was obvious the god was expecting something amazing, but Sam had no idea what he was doing. What if he sucked at it? What if Loki was completely disappointed? He had come too far to turn back now though and he darted out his tongue to lick at the pre-cum beading at the tip, pulling a whimper and a shudder from Loki.

Loki’s hand went to Sam’s hair instinctively and when he felt Sam’s tongue just tease over him he was gone. He pressed himself against the hunter’s lips as he gasped, “O-open your mouth Sam…please Sam…god…open…fuck!...yes!” he cried as Sam did so and wrapped his lips around the tip. “Oh…god…yes…more…Sam…please…just…just suck…please…” Sam added some suction and bobbed his head over Loki’s cock causing the trickster’s hand to tighten in his hair as he arched up off the bed. “Oh god yes!” When he felt Sam’s finger teasing around his hole he started squirming himself down on it, “Please Sam…in…please…” 

Sam slid his finger in Loki’s tight ass and started feeling around for the spot that he knew was there and he knew he found it when Loki gasped out, “Ohyesyesyesyesyes…right there Sam! Fuck!” Sam smiled around the cock in his mouth as he started pumping his finger in and out, going for the pleasure button every time as Loki turned into a writing mess. He knew he wasn’t giving the best blowjob ever. He could barely take half of the god in his mouth, but his other hand was making up the difference and he guessed it was good enough as right around the time he slid the second finger in, Loki was babbling, “Oh god…Sam…so…so close…gonna…cum…” Sam was faced with a split second decision, but the hand in his hair seemed to be taking that decision away from him as it just tightened, not giving him a chance to retreat. Loki had swallowed him enough that he might as well give it a shot. By the time that thought crossed his mind, Loki was gasping his name and Sam felt the warm salty liquid filling his mouth. 

By the time he was finished, and Sam had swallowed, admitting to himself that it wasn’t that bad, Sam had three fingers going inside him, having rushed things a little bit in his haste to be inside Loki. He flipped Loki over and the deity got his knees under him as Sam plunged in and took him hard and fast. The hunter had to admit that was incredibly hot and he was so close already. Loki hadn’t even had a chance to get hard again before Sam was spilling over inside him. 

Once they were spent, Loki flipped back over and pulled Sam down for a kiss, moaning a little at the taste of himself in the hunter’s mouth. Sam had never let Loki kiss him after sucking him off, but maybe the hunter would relax on that a little now that he was on the other side of it. “You good Sammy,” he asked softly, wanting to make sure. 

“I’m good,” Sam said with a smile, kissing Loki again. “I love you.”

“And I love you my sweet Samshine.”


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to her familiarity with Sam, and his relation to Dean, Hel could sense where the hunter was, and she could also sense the angels hovering around him, so she stayed back, waiting for her chance. This was the first time her father had ever asked anything of her, and she wasn’t about to let him down. She even had plans to get photo and video evidence once she could get close enough. She got her chance after a couple days when he hit a bar in South Dakota. His angelic tail apparently didn’t want to follow him into such a seedy place. 

Hel appeared directly inside, not wanting to leave a trail, but she knew better than to leave a trail for a hunter either, so she came out of the bathroom and headed for the bar, positioning herself so that she could get a good look at the hunter who was tossing back shots like there was no tomorrow. She definitely couldn’t show Sam this version of his brother. He would go crazy with worry so she made her way over to the hunter in order to cheer him up. She wanted to get at least a few images of him smiling or laughing to show Sam. “You look like you have a lot on your mind,” she said sympathetically taking a seat next to him. 

“You could say that again,” he muttered as he took another shot. 

“You wanna talk about it?” she asked. 

“I just got back from…a really bad place…only to find that my brother is missing and has been for months. I don’t think talking is gonna help much.”

“You never know. I’ve found that talking about things tends to share the burden and make things easier to bear. Even if you just talk to an empty room,” she couldn’t help the sadness that entered her voice at that. She had always been melancholy, but she was trying to cheer him up, not drag him down. 

Dean did a double take at the sadness he could hear in her. “You have a lot of experience talking to empty rooms?” he asked sympathetically. Maybe listening to her problems would get his mind off his own for a little while. 

Hel was surprised that something like that was what got a real response from him. Maybe he was one of those that just wanted to feel helpful, so she talked. “I’ve been told that I have a tendency to take the problems of the world on my shoulders, so I’m seldom in a very good mood. People often get tired of hearing about it, so I’m left to talk to an empty room.”

“And now you’re here trying to take on my problems?” he asked with a half-smile. She reminded him a bit of Sam and that was nice. 

“I’m good at it,” she told him with a sad smile. “And I like to help where I can.”

Dean knocked over the salt so that it spilled on her hand. He felt the need to make sure she wasn’t a demon if he was going to continue this conversation. “Sorry about that,” he said pretending to be embarrassed as she just laughed and brushed off her hand. She knew what he was doing and she was impressed that he was so cautious, though she supposed being freshly resurrected from hell would cause such things. “I just…I went to the place I went to protect my brother, then I come back to find out that he’s gone…maybe even dead…and everything I lived through was for nothing and now I’m never gonna see him again.”

“But you did save your brother, even if it wasn’t for as long as you wanted to, so was it really for nothing? And it sounds like you don’t know that he’s dead. You shouldn’t give up hope until there’s none left,” she said. 

“Yeah, well, hope is something there’s never quite enough of,” Dean mumbled. 

“Remember the story of Pandora. She opened the box and released all the evils and fears and plagues into the world, but managed to close it in time to keep hope inside. There’s always hope, even if you can’t always find it,” she told him. 

He looked at her like she had two heads. He just couldn’t figure her out. It was like she was both endlessly optimistic and eternally sad all at once and it didn’t make any sense. “Do you ever have that problem? Not being able to find it?” 

“Yes, often,” she smiled sadly. 

“So what do you do?” Dean asked hopefully. 

“I’m not the best role model there.” He raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. “Usually I just sit there and wait for something or someone to come along and help.”

“You said usually?” Dean asked. He found himself entranced by this girl and wanted to know everything he could about her. 

“Yes, usually. Sometimes…well it sounds rather silly, but…my father is basically the exact opposite of me. He is always so full of light and joy and nothing ever gets him down. Sometimes, when it gets really bad, I’ll go visit him.” 

“That’s not silly. It’s good that you have someone like that,” Dean told her. He wished he did. Everyone he knew were hunters, and by definition just as messed up as he was. This girl was a breath of fresh air. “I’m Dean by the way.”

“Helen,” she said easily, giving him the human equivalent of her name. She couldn’t help but be drawn in by him, by his charm and attentiveness. It had been a long time since anyone had paid such attention to her, and this fact had her sitting with him and chatting until the bar closed. She didn’t even realize how much trouble she was in until he leaned over and kissed her and she just melted into it. 

As much as Dean wanted to take her somewhere, there was something different about this girl. She wasn’t a romp in the hay in a dirty motel room and never see her again type person. He knew he was poison. He knew she would be better off if he just walked away never to see her again, but this was Sioux Falls. He was here often enough that he might actually be able to make a go of this one, and god did he want to. “You got a number?” he asked as he pulled out of the kiss. 

Obviously she didn’t have a phone. She didn’t even live in this dimension. She would get one though. And she would con her father into rigging it to work in Helheim. There was no danger in talking to the guy on the phone. Angels couldn’t see through the phone lines. Her father was so going to kill her for this. It wasn’t like she planned it. Who would have thought that there would be two such special humans in the same family that could draw the attention of gods? This was a nightmare. “It won’t be hooked up until tomorrow afternoon,” she told him, going with the story of just moving into town. “But the number will be 605-254-8573,” she thought up on the spot making a mental note to get her father to give her that number. 

Dean needed to check one more thing, and he also needed her to write her number down anyway so he handed her a silver pen and a slip of paper to write it down with, smiling when she didn’t have any reaction to the silver, and he kissed her again and promised to call her as he left. 

 

Hel stopped off to pick up the babies from Jormungandr who was babysitting while she was running her errand, before heading to her father’s house to report in. It was only late afternoon there due to the time zone Loki had put in place in his little pocket dimension, so she was able to catch them both in the lounge playing chess. Loki quickly snapped up a double cradle for the sleeping babies and motioned her to sit down. “I did as you asked and went to check on Sam’s brother,” she started with a smile on her face. 

Loki narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her, but refrained from commenting as Sam asked, “How was he? Is he okay?”

“He’s doing well, Sam. I even took the liberty of getting some pictures for you,” she told him. Creating images from her memories was the most basic power there was so she was easily able to do so, and handed them over to him. She had chosen images of him smiling and laughing, though the sadness was still visible behind it. That wasn’t going to go away for a while. 

“I…thank you Hel. This…this means so much to me,” Sam said setting the pictures down and pulling her into a hug. 

“I’m glad, Sam,” she said happily as she hugged him back. Other than her father and brothers she seldom received hugs, so she relished every one she got. 

She stayed for dinner, and afterwards, Sam went out for a run and her father wasted no time in rounding on her. “Tell me I’m wrong, Hel,” he said firmly. 

She gulped. She knew exactly what he was asking and she couldn’t. Sure she could lie, but she still needed to ask him for a phone. She could make one herself and even give it the right number, but there weren’t very many beings who could make it work across dimensions. She needed him for that, so lying wasn’t an option. “I can’t,” she said looking down at the floor.


	4. Chapter 4

“Damnit Hela!” Loki said heatedly as he began to pace. “Do you have any idea what kind of shit you’ve stepped in here?” 

“I know,” she said sadly, near tears. She had never dealt well with her father’s anger. 

He heard the quiver in her voice and that was enough to stop him in his tracks and he pulled her in for a hug, resting his cheek against her head. “I’m just worried for you baby. Please, please promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I will. I promise,” she said. 

“God, Hela. Of all the humans you could have fallen for, it had to be the one with angels on his tail while we are hiding his brother from them?” he asked wryly, trying to put aside the clenching fear that threatened to overwhelm him. Protecting his family just got a hundred times harder and to top it off he was trapped here and couldn’t even do anything if the shit hit the fan. This was a nightmare. 

“How did you know?” she asked. 

He gave a tense chuckle. “As well as you know me, I know you even better,” he told her. “Even if I couldn’t see it written all over your face, those pictures are from a little too close up for you to be across the room.”

“Well there is something else I wanted to ask you…” she trailed off nervously. 

“What is it?” he asked with a weary sigh. 

“Could you make a phone work from Helheim for me?” 

Loki groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. At least it would be safer than her rushing out to meet him all the time, and maybe having another way to contact him would make her more careful when she did meet him. “Fine.” He snapped his fingers again, handing her a necklace. “And please wear this all the time, especially when you’re near him.”

“What does it do?” she asked, knowing that it was more than just pretty jewelry. 

“It will heat up anytime there is an angel close enough to sense you and it will hide you from their senses for a few minutes. Long enough for you to make excuses to leave as long as you are quick about it.” Loki had rigged it so that it wouldn’t work in this dimension. He didn’t want to give away his own secret after all, but it would work just fine anywhere else. The sigils on it were far too small for the naked eye to see and covered the entire pendant and all around the chain.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said happily hugging him tightly. It was getting late, but she didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to Sam, so she stuck around for a little while. By the time Sam came back from his run, the babies were awake and crying to be fed. 

Sam headed straight for the living room and the crying babies. “Can I…?” he asked hopefully. He was already hooked on them, and they were around so seldom that he would take what chances he got. He still wasn’t comfortable walking around with either of them and sat down before Loki handed him Narfi, taking Nari himself. Hel was just grateful for the break and gladly let her father and Sam feed the babies. 

She raised an eyebrow as she saw Sam peeking under his lashes to look as longingly at Loki as he had at the hunter the last time she was here. Something had definitely changed there and she wondered if her father was aware of it. When he glanced up and winked at Sam, she realized that he was and she couldn’t help but grin at them. Once the babies were fed she headed out, and Loki curled up to Sam’s side and turned the television on. 

It didn’t take long for Sam to realize that Loki was distracted by something. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing. Just…issues with Hel,” Loki tried to brush him off. 

Sam couldn’t help the sting he felt at that. After all that talk the other day about him being part of the family, he was being shut out. “I get it. It’s a family thing,” he said trying to keep the accusation out of his voice. 

Loki heard the sting of rejection in Sam’s voice and resigned himself to telling him what was going on. He didn’t want him to know, but he wasn’t about to risk alienating him for anything. “It’s just…when Hela went looking for Dean, she kinda…well…she fell for him.”

“And he’s still being tailed by angels looking for me and trying to start the apocalypse,” Sam said understandingly. Part of him wanted to just fall apart and be a big baby about his brother, but he chose to see this as a test. Like it or not, he was with the patriarch of this family. He needed to be able to help him handle these issues. He needed to be a partner, not another problem. 

“Exactly. It’s so dangerous, but I can’t just order her not to see him again. Even if she would listen to me, she is a grown goddess and has the right to make her own decisions,” Loki said. 

“But there’s more too. I can’t see Dean ever being with a goddess, once he knows what she is. He would see her as a monster. We’ve run into pagan gods before.”

“But she doesn’t hurt anyone,” Loki told him. “Not like I was when you met me. Not like the other ones you took out.”

“It might make a difference, but not likely. We’ve run into docile monsters before, and while he did let them live, he didn’t like it,” Sam explained. 

Loki sighed. “He wouldn’t dare let him kill her. Even I wouldn’t be able to save him from her brothers, if I would even try.” The only reason he would consider trying in that case was for Sam’s sake, but it would still be a toss-up. “Her heartbreak…that I can’t do anything about,” he said sadly. 

“But wouldn’t her brothers be pissed about that too?” Sam asked worriedly. He knew he would be if he had a sister. 

“They would. But that I would step in and save him from. At least from anything permanent or life-altering. The rest would depend on the situation,” Loki told him. 

Sam could accept that. It was fair. If Dean was going to break a goddess’s heart in a nasty way, he deserved a little payback as long as it wasn’t permanent or life-altering. Sam wasn’t quite ready to think of Hel as his step-daughter or whatever, but he did consider her family and while he would protect Dean’s life with his own, he had no intention of getting between enraged family members of girls who’s hearts he broke. Never had and never would. “She’ll be okay you know,” Sam told Loki. “She’s got a good head on her shoulders and she’ll be careful. I can’t make any promises for her heart, but physically she’ll be fine, and the rest we can fix if need be.”

Loki swallowed around the lump in his throat. He didn’t miss the word ‘we’. And how was it that Sam knew exactly what he needed; to talk it out and then be reassured. He burrowed closer to the hunter’s side. “You are so fucking perfect,” he muttered into the hunter’s chest, hearing the deep rumble from Sam’s chuckle as he pressed a kiss to the top of Loki’s head.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a few days before Dean called Hel, and when he did, he was itching to meet up again. She knew that they couldn’t meet up too often so she quickly made up an excuse about traveling a lot for work. She told him she didn’t usually know ahead of time when she would be home so they would have to play it by ear and in the meantime they could talk on the phone. The hunter was obviously not thrilled with the arrangement, but he would have been a hypocrite if he protested given that he was in the same situation. 

They ended up spending a couple hours on the phone, and while most of it was pleasant, his talk about everything he was doing to try to find his brother tugged at her heartstrings in the worst way. She wished she could tell him everything, or better yet bring him to Sam, but that just wasn’t in the cards. She wasn’t completely privy to her father’s plans but she knew that keeping Dean in the dark was a big part of them and as much as she liked Dean, she wouldn’t risk putting her family in danger for him. Not any more than she already was anyway. 

It was a few weeks before she risked seeing him again. She made sure he didn’t have any angels buzzing around him before she called him and told him she was in town and asked if he wanted to get together. They had been spending hours on the phone every few days and things were heating up fast. Dean wasn’t normally one to spend a lot of time on the phone but this was different and he jumped at the chance to see her again. They had a nice dinner and ended up back at the house she had manufactured a deed for. 

She had mentioned that she had twin babies, and while he hadn’t been put off by it, he didn’t seem particularly interested in it either, but she made sure to have baby paraphernalia in the house despite the fact that Narfi and Nari had never been, nor would ever be, in the house. She told Dean that the babies were with her brother for the night as they headed towards the bedroom and they spent an enjoyable and active night. She was glad that she didn’t have to make excuses to leave at any point, and not just because it would have been awkward since it was supposedly her house. 

They continued in the same vein for the next six months, only seeing each other every few weeks or month, but spending a lot of time on the phone in between. Because they got all their talking done on the phone, their meetings were usually about the more physical aspects of the relationship and they were both getting in deep and Dean brought up a talk that she had wondered if they would ever have and part of her hoped they never would. “So when do I get to meet the babies?” 

It wasn’t that she had anything against him meeting the babies, but they were starting to come into their powers now and had a tendency to use them at the most inopportune times…like in the presence of a hunter for example. “I…um…I don’t know,” she said nervously. 

Dean decided it was time to come clean with her. He wanted this relationship to go somewhere and he had to show her he was serious. “I need to tell you something,” he started nervously. The only time he’d ever tried to do this before it had blown up in his face. “See there are bad things out there in the world. I mean like vampires, werewolves, vengeful spirits, and stuff like that. I hunt them and kill them so they don’t hurt people.”

She was surprised that she was getting the talk. She knew that she couldn’t feign total ignorance. It wouldn’t be believable in the slightest, but she couldn’t claim to be a hunter herself either. “I know,” she said. “My dad knows a hunter. We all know what to watch out for.” 

“I…um…oh…well…that makes things easier,” Dean stammered. That definitely wasn’t the response he was expecting. 

“So what do you do about the beings that aren’t human, but don’t hurt anyone?” she asked. 

“It depends. If it’s in their nature to hurt people like vampires, I’d need proof that they don’t hurt people, but I let them go, and if that ever changes, I’ll take care of it then,” Dean said with a shrug, not sure why they were talking about this. 

She considered telling him her own secret, but that would lead to far too many questions that she couldn’t answer. She would need to have a detailed talk with her father about what all she could and couldn’t tell him. 

Dean was emboldened by her lack of rejection and easy acceptance of his life so he took a chance. “I love you, Helen, and I really want this thing with us to go somewhere,” he said biting his lip as he waited for a response. 

She sucked in a sharp breath. This was everything she wanted and everything she dreaded all at once. “I…I love you too, Dean,” she said and left it at that. She knew that if she went into a speech about how it was complicated then he would leave and she would probably never see him again. She would figure out what to do first. 

He captured her in a kiss and they collapsed into bed again. It was a few hours later, as they were coming down from their highs from their third round, that Hel realized that her necklace was warm. She couldn’t even pinpoint how long it had been. She looked at the clock and said, “Oh god! Is it that time already. I have to go. I’m sorry. Just let yourself out whenever,” She said throwing her clothes back on quickly. She leaned over and kissed him soundly. “I love you,” she said one last time as she rushed out. As soon as she was outside she disappeared, hoping against hope that she had gotten out in time and that it hadn’t been heated up for long before she noticed. It had happened a few times before, but she had enough time in those cases to make up a decent excuse instead of just dashing out like a mad woman. 

If she had realized that she had been seen by a now very curious seraph, she would have told someone so that they could be on their guard, but she didn’t realize it. She had assumed that if she ever were spotted they would say something to Dean first and he would confront her. She never considered the possibility of what happened next. 

It was a few weeks later and she was lying in bed with Dean when Fenny suddenly appeared in the room, looking wild-eyed. Dean jumped up gun in one hand, demon knife in the other, but he was ignored. “They took Skoll. We’re meeting at Dad’s. He said to bring him,” Fenny said gesturing to Dean. 

Before Dean knew what was going on, both he and Helen were fully dressed and standing in the entryway of a large house. The first thing Dean saw was his brother, holding a crying little boy. He hadn’t noticed Dean’s presence yet. Then he saw the trickster with a baby in each arm, and Helen walked over to him and grabbed one of them. “Father,” she said sadly kissing his cheek. 

“What the hell!?” Dean couldn’t help but exclaim, causing Sam to snap his head up to look at him in shock. 

Before anyone else could say anything though, Loki took control of the situation. “Okay, everyone quiet!” he shouted over the uproar. He looked to Dean first and said, “I know you want explanations and you’ll get them soon. First we need to see about getting my grandson back.” He turned to the little boy in Sam’s arms. “Okay Hati…what can you see?” 

The boy burrowed closer to Sam and said, “It’s cold…and dark…he’s scared…and they’re threatening him. They said that if they don’t get Isa they’ll kill him and then me and then daddy and then auntie Hel and then…” they boy was too hysterical to continue. 

“I can turn myself in…” Sam said firmly. 

“The hell you will!” Loki said heatedly, seconded by Fenrir and Hel. Dean was still trying to figure out what was going on here and Jormungandr seemed more than willing to let Sam do it. 

“I can’t let them hurt Skoll to get to me, Loki. I just can’t,” Sam said. 

“Please don’t go Isa. They’ll hurt you too,” Hati sniffled. 

“I know baby, but better me than your brother,” he said. 

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not gonna happen,” Loki said firmly. He was going to have to do something he never wanted to do. Desperate times though… “Everyone follow me.”

He led them upstairs to his bedroom and pulled a very large crate out from under the bed. When he opened it, all three of his children gasped in shock. “Dad? How…how do you have archangel battle gear?” Helen asked.


	6. Chapter 6

“Because I used to be one,” he said shortly. All of his children knew that he had another life and another name before this one, and that it was painful for him to talk about and they had never pushed. Sam was the same. He knew that there would still be some fallout for this and he would gladly take it if it brought Skoll back unharmed. 

Dean had made his way over to Sam and the younger hunter reached out his hand and they grasped forearms. Sam still had an armful of crying child, so he couldn’t exactly hug his brother right now, but thankfully, a kid being in danger seemed to have given Dean a heretofore unfound well of patience when waiting for answers and he was just watching and taking everything in. 

Loki started handing the armor to Fenrir. He knew how they worked. Fenrir was the one who attacked head on, Jormy struck from the shadows, and Hel provided backup support. Fenny was the one who needed the armor. “Dad…we can’t take on angels…” Fenrir said pointedly. 

“Of course you can. You’re the children of an archangel. Whether you knew it or not you are more than strong enough to take care of anything save another archangel and they won’t be there. They will have left their dirty work to the minions. I know my brothers.”

“This is insane…if you hadn’t tried to stop their stupid apocalypse…” Jormungandr started before he was cut off. 

Loki grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him down to his level. “I don’t give a shit what you think about me, Jormy. When you get back we can play the recrimination game all you want, but first you get out there and save your nephew,” Loki spat angrily before turning and grabbing the last few things out of the box. He handed the largest blade to Fenrir, and two of the smaller blades to Hel and Jormungandr. 

About that time, Hati screamed. “They’re hurting him. Make it stop!”

“Go,” Loki said quickly, grabbing Nari from Hel and rushing them away. There were no words for how much he hated sending his kids into battle while he just sat here. 

“You’re not…” Dean started confused. 

“I can’t leave here or this dimension will collapse killing everyone in it,” Loki snapped as he turned and started heading towards the stairs. 

Dean turned towards him and started to puff up at the tone, but Sam put a hand on his shoulder. “Leave it. He’s just really on edge right now. His grandson has been kidnapped and is being tortured by his estranged brothers, all of his children just went off to rescue him and he’s trapped here and can’t do anything about it. You can’t blame him for getting a little snippy at the reminder.”

“What the hell is going on here, Sam?” Dean asked losing his already fraying patience. 

“I need to get downstairs to help him with the babies. Come on. I’ll explain there,” Sam said heading out of the room, rubbing Hati’s back soothingly as he did so. Dean followed him and did his best to just ignore Loki once they got down there. He got what Sam said, but being mouthed off to by a monster wasn’t something he was inclined to take lying down. 

“Okay, so long story short, you went to hell, broke the first seal…” Dean winced at the reminder of what he had just found out last week himself, but Sam barreled on. “then Lilith as supposed to break the rest of the seals until I was manipulated into killing her which would break the last one and release Lucifer. Loki didn’t want that to happen, so he pulled me out of the game. The plan was to wait until the angelic presence around you died off, until they gave up, then see where we stood.” He wasn’t going to tell Dean that he was never going to see him again. Not now when that plan was obviously up in smoke. It would only serve to piss him off. 

“So what…you set a watchdog on me?” he asked incredulously wondering if his entire relationship with Helen had been set up from the beginning. 

Loki snorted derisively, but refrained from commenting, letting Sam handle this. “No, that would have been Fenrir,” Sam deadpanned, pulling an actual laugh from the trickster god which had been Sam’s intention. “No, Hel was just supposed to get a look at you after you were resurrected and make sure you were okay for my own peace of mind since I can’t leave this dimension without being detected and captured. Her falling for you wasn’t part of the plan. In fact, it pretty much screwed the pooch…not Fenrir.” 

This time even Hati giggled at the joke, not that he got most of it. Just the reference to his father being a pooch. “So I’ve been going out of my mind with worry while you’ve been…what? Shacking up with monsters?” 

The toy Loki had been dangling in front of the babies shattered in his hands at that statement and Sam winced. That was never going to go over well in the best of times, much less now. “Loki, why don’t you go take a walk or something,” he suggested gently. 

“I’m fine,” he ground out. 

“No. You’re not. If you’re gonna blow, it doesn’t need to be around the kids,” Sam said pointedly. He could see how tightly Loki was wound. Loki stood and looked searchingly at Sam. He’d never been alone with the babies before, much less with Hati still clinging to him like a limpet. Sam just smiled at him. If there was ever a time for him to step up into the role he had taken on in this family it was now. And he didn’t give a flying fuck if his brother was watching or not. He pulled Loki in for a soothing kiss. “I’m good Lo. Go blow off some steam.”

“If you need me…”

“I know,” Sam assured him. 

Dean just looked at his brother like he had grown another head and Sam waited until Loki was out the door before he said, “You need to watch who you call monsters around here. This is my family,” Sam said sternly. 

“I’M your family,” Dean said heatedly. “They’ve just brainwashed you!”

“Yes, you’re my family, Dean, but they haven’t brainwashed me at all. They are not monsters…”

“They kill people, Sam!” 

“No. They don’t,” Sam said starting to get angry himself. At least he was until Hati flinched. “I’m sorry buddy. It’ll be okay.” 

Dean at least had the good grace to keep his volume down as he said, “We know for a fact that ‘Loki’ has killed people.”

“No. We don’t. It was all illusions. Made to draw us in so he could try and stop this before it got so far. If we had listened to him then, you could have called him instead of a demon to save me. I could have called him to bust me out before I got ki…hurt,” he changed words mid-sentence not knowing how the idea that he’d died would affect Hati. “Sec,” he said absentmindedly as Narfi had transported himself outside the playpen and was using his newfound crawling skills to head for the door. He scooped up the baby and put him back in the playpen and gave him another of the toys that was lying on the table to keep him occupied. “He does play tricks on jerks designed to make them see the errors of their ways, but he never kills. Neither do any of the others. Just because the only gods we’ve run across have killed people doesn’t mean they all do. I mean, come on. There are thousands of gods and we’ve only heard of a couple? What does that tell you?” 

“So what? They’re all just nice people?” Dean asked skeptically. 

“They’re just people Dean. Jormungandr is kind of an ass, Hela is a sweetheart, Fenrir is a big cheerful puppy, and the kids…they’re just kids. Like anyone else. They just happen to have powers.”

“Hela…” Dean started but trailed off. He had no idea what he was thinking or feeling there. 

Sam jumped in though. “Loves you. Regardless of anything else. Despite the fact that you’re ‘only human’. She loves you.”

Dean, desperate to change the subject just said, “And you and Loki? Seriously? Not just a man but a mon…god…whatever he is?”

“Yes. Me and Loki. We are together, we love each other, and we’re happy. I’m not going to let anyone…not even you…get in the way of that…crap,” Sam said noticing that it was Nari’s turn to escape and she was headed right for the solarium. 

“I got her,” Dean said heading her way. Sam watched like a hawk as Dean went over and scooped her up. She immediately grabbed his necklace and giggled as she tried to put it in her mouth. He gently pried it away from her and got bopped on the nose for his trouble, and just like that he was hooked. Sam saw Dean’s eyes soften as he smiled at the baby girl and he realized that he had won this round and he couldn’t help the small smile that graced his face as he finally felt comfortable sitting down. Hati was getting heavy anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as Sam sat down, the little boy burrowed deeper against him. “Isa?” 

“Yes buddy?” 

“I’m scared,” he said in a small voice. 

“I know kiddo. But you know what? Your daddy, uncle Jormy, and aunt Hel went to go get Skoll and he’ll be back before you know it. All of them will and everyone will be just fine okay?” Sam said trying to convince himself as much as Hati. 

“He’s still cold and scared. They aren’t hurting him anymore though,” Hati told them. 

“That’s good. You let us know if anything changes okay?” Sam said gently feeling the boy nod against his neck. 

“How does he know?” Dean asked curiously still entranced by the baby in his lap. 

“They’re twins. They’re linked,” Sam told him.

“And…and angels took him? Why?” Dean asked. 

“Because they spotted Hel with you, and assumed that she or someone else in the family knew where Sam was and got the best leverage they could. A little boy,” Loki said distastefully as he came back in. He raised an eyebrow at Dean holding Nari, but Sam just shook his head to tell him not to say anything and then nodded towards them so that Loki would actually look. 

“And you know this because…you know your brothers?” Sam asked delicately. 

“I’d really rather only go through all that once when the others get back, if that’s okay,” Loki said shortly. 

“Sure. That’s fine,” Sam said holding out his arm as Loki came over and Sam put his arm around him while Loki reached down to scratch Hati’s head. 

“You doing okay kiddo?” He felt Hati nod. “You really should get some sleep. It’s getting late.” Hati shook his head furiously and started sniffling again. 

Sam knew what was wrong and offered a solution. “How about we have a sleepover? Papi can snap up a sleeping bag in here and you can lay down and go to sleep. We’ll leave the lights on and we’ll all be right here.”

“O-okay. Will you tuck me in, Isa?” Hati asked hopefully. 

“Sure thing sweetie.” 

“Isa?” Dean asked, finally catching that. 

“Finnish for grandpa,” Sam told him absentmindedly, not noticing the choking sound from his brother, as he got Hati all tucked in, just in time for Narfi to escape again and come crawling over to the sleeping bag and curl up next to Hati’s side, sucking his thumb. Apparently he was tired too. Nari was already starting to fall asleep on Dean. 

Loki smiled softly at the babies and walked over to Dean. “I’ll go put her down too,” he said as he took her gently from Dean’s arms and placed her on the other side of Hati. He seemed glad to have his cousins there. Loki snapped up a pen area around them. “Hati can step over if he needs to, but the babies can’t wander off.”

“The playpen seemed to work real well,” Dean said more amused than snarky, but Loki started to bristle anyway. 

Sam reached out and rubbed Loki’s arms soothingly. “Chill Lo. He was just kidding,” he said in a tone meant to point out that the trickster god was being oversensitive. Dean was just glad to see that his brother would stick up for him too. 

“Sorry,” Loki said with a wince. “I’m just…on edge.”

Sam pulled him in for a tight hug and Loki rested his head gratefully on Sam’s shoulder. “They’ll be okay, Loki.”

“You don’t know that,” Loki said sadly. “I just sent my children off to fight a battle I should be fighting. I’m the one who got us into this. I’m the one who interfered. And now my grandsons are suffering for it. My children are in danger.”

Sam pulled back and pressed a short, hard kiss to Loki’s lips. “Enough. Your children are more than capable of facing this and getting Skoll back. You know that or you never would have let them go at all. And you stepped in to save the world when no one else would. Yes, it’s had unintended side effects, but nothing good will ever come of blaming yourself. Trust me. I know.” Loki sniffled a slight laugh. “Besides. You’re the one with the tough job. Waiting and keeping the rest of the kids safe. And they would never trust anyone but you to do it.”

Sam pulled Loki down to sit on the couch leaning against him and Dean got up and moved to the chair to give them some room. “Loki?” Dean said tentatively. “I’m sorry. About your grandson. No one should ever use a kid that way.” 

Loki didn’t have anything to say to that, but he gave Dean a grateful nod. He appreciated the thought at least. He was very aware of the fact that this was the man his daughter loved and that he may end up having to put up with him on a regular basis if the moron could get over the whole not human thing. He’d seemed to take to Nari pretty well at least. 

They lapsed into a heavy silence after that, all of them lost in their own thoughts. Dean was only marginally surprised to find that he was worried about Helen...Hel…whatever her name was. If he had known what she was from the beginning, he would never have let himself get close, but he didn’t know, and he did get close. Close enough that finding out she wasn’t human didn’t make him love her any less. He felt betrayed and used, but he still loved her. It helped to find out that she had never hurt anyone. He didn’t know how she could. Even she couldn’t be that good of an actress. She just had too kind of a heart to ever harm a soul. He hoped she made it back okay. They had a lot to talk about. 

Sam just sat there holding Loki tightly, pretending not to notice the silent tears that fell against his neck, as he fought to keep his own tears at bay. This was his chance to be strong for Loki, and he pushed his own worries and fears aside to do so. He just wished that he had been as confident as he sounded about their chances. 

Loki, for his part, was nearly paralyzed with fear. Something happening to his family was pretty much his greatest nightmare and now, not only Skoll but all three of his children were out there too. And there was no guarantee any of them were coming back. He may have just sent most of his family to their deaths and he had no idea how he was supposed to live with that. He was so grateful to Sam right now. Sam was his lifeline. If it had been just him left here with the kids it would have been a disaster. He would have been a complete wreck, causing them to be just as bad off. Loki was used to being the glue that held the family together, but it seemed that Sam was perfectly able and willing to take on the role when needed and Loki couldn’t thank him enough. 

Sam and Dean, had drifted off where they were sitting after a couple hours, Sam’s arms still wrapped tightly around Loki, when they were all woken and/or pulled out of their thoughts, by Hati’s squeal. “They’re there! They found him! Papi! Isa! They’re there!” The little boy scrambled up, avoiding stepping on his baby cousins as he jumped over the fence and onto the couple on the couch, only one of which was completely awake. 

“How are they? Are they okay? What’s happening?” Loki asked him as Sam and Dean waited just as impatiently for the answers too. 

“A big man is yelling at Daddy about his armor and sword and Daddy is yelling back. Uncle Jormy is hiding and watching and auntie Hel is trying to get to Skoll. A guy in a brown coat is holding onto him though,” Hati gave them a play by play and no one noticed Dean’s pained expression when Hati mentioned the ‘guy in the brown coat’. Hati giggled. “Skoll just bit the coat guys arm and kicked him right in the marbles and he let go. Auntie Hel’s got him now.”

No sooner than Hati had finished saying that Hel appeared in the room, put Skoll down and disappeared again. Hati and Skoll immediately rushed into each other’s arms and Loki scooped both of them up, sitting back down with them holding them tightly. He was both relieved and more scared than ever. He was glad that Skoll was back safe and sound, but now they had no way of knowing what was going on and how the rest of his kids were. He hoped they would just get out of there, but Fenrir just leaving without exacting some kind of vengeance for harming his son was a long shot. He did hope Hel’s influence was enough to keep him from going somewhere he couldn’t come back from.


	8. Chapter 8

It was Fenrir’s show. It was his son that was taken. The other two were just his backup. Jormy had subdued the one in the trenchcoat first and was waiting for Fenrir to finish with the large man to decide what to do with them. Fenrir managed to get him subdued and very nearly killed him. He drew back his blade to do so, but Hel’s hand on his arm stopped him. “Are we to kill unarmed opponents now brother?” she asked gently. 

“Those who kidnap and torture small children?” he snarled. 

“And you are qualified to be judge, jury, and executioner?” she asked pointedly. 

Fenrir growled and threw the angel into a chair that Hel had materialized while Jormungandr put the other one in the other chair. They learned that their father was right. They were stronger than seraphs. They were able to override the angels’ powers and keep them trapped to the chairs. He would wring every bit of information he could out of them and then decide their fate. “Names,” he ordered menacingly. 

“What are you?” trenchcoat guy asked narrowing his eyes at them. They read as gods but no gods could overpower an angel like this. 

“I’m asking the questions here,” he barked. “Name.”

“Castiel,” he answered. 

“Uriel,” the other spat following his boss’ lead. 

“Why did you take my son?” When neither of them answered, he brandished his father’s blade menacingly. “Here’s how this works. I ask. You answer.”

“You would resort to torture?” Castiel asked. He was trying to get a read on these people. They seemed to have compassion and little stomach for such things. He at least expected the female to step in at the mention. 

“Against those who tortured my son? Absolutely.”

“Your son was not harmed,” Castiel said evenly. 

“My son is a twin. His brother was aware of everything that happened to him. Do not lie to me,” Fenrir roared. 

Castiel blinked at him and he could see the truth burning in the being’s eyes. “Uriel. Did you harm the child?” 

“He would not answer my questions. I did what needed to be done,” the other man said unremorsefully. 

“You were instructed not to harm him,” Castiel snapped. He didn’t like the idea of kidnapping a child to begin with, but he had followed his orders, and given his own to his subordinate expecting them to be followed as well. 

“Your instruction was borne of weakness and a compassion that we could ill-afford,” Uriel said matter-of-factly. 

Castiel turned to the irate father. “You have my apologies for any harm that came to the child or his brother.” 

“You had your hands on him when we got here,” Fenrir snarled. 

“I did. I sought to pull him out of the way of any fighting lest he be harmed,” Castiel told him. 

Fenrir narrowed his eyes at the seraph looking for any signs of deceit but couldn’t find any. “Very well. I will endeavor to direct any torture towards the responsible party,” he said distastefully turning his blade to Uriel. “Now. Why. Did. You. Take. My. Son?” 

Castiel was beginning to question his orders and his mission. He had just learned that their goal was to begin the apocalypse, not to prevent it, and he had grave concerns. He had only carried out these orders because no one was supposed to be hurt. It was this thinking that led him to answer the wolf god’s questions. “I will tell you everything you wish to know if you will answer one question for me,” he offered. 

Fenrir turned on him angrily. “You will tell me anything I wish to know or watch your colleague be dismembered before your eyes.”

Uriel started to struggle angrily, but was stopped by the blade against his throat and the hiss in his ear, “Just give me an excuse.” He hadn’t even realized that there was anyone behind him. “Not a word,” Jormungandr hissed. Apparently they didn’t need this one. 

The girl once again put a hand on his arm. “It can hurt nothing to hear him out,” she said softly. 

“We are soldiers. We have been trained to resist any and all torture to both ourselves and others. You will get no information that way. I will answer any questions I can regarding this matter if you tell me where you got the armor and blades,” Castiel offered. 

“They belong to our father,” Jormungandr said before anyone else could object. He was still angry enough at him, both for getting them into this in the first place and for hiding what he was for so long, that he didn’t really care if he objected. 

Fenrir glared at him, but refrained from commenting as he turned back to the seraph and said, “Now speak.”

“We spotted her with Dean Winchester, and were understandably curious as to what a goddess would want with Michael’s vessel. After an investigation, during which we discovered who she was, it became evident that our two mysteries, that and the disappearance of Lucifer’s vessel may be entwined. You and your sons were the only members of your family that we were able to locate, and so we were ordered to take one or both children to use as leverage to get information on Sam Winchester’s whereabouts.”

“And why not just take me then?” Fenrir snarled. 

“Because you may not have been aware of what other members of your family were doing and they would be more likely to cooperate to save the children than to save you,” Castiel said bluntly. 

“And what was your take on those orders?” Hel asked. She could see that there was something worthwhile in this particular angel, and she felt the need to get her brother to see it too. If for no other reason than to save him from further retaliation. 

“I was...uncomfortable…with the thought of involving children, but I had to follow orders.”

“Why would you follow that kind of order?” Fenrir asked. 

“Does not your father expect you to follow orders?” Castiel asked. If they were telling the truth, and he could see no deceit, about being Gabriel’s children, he could not imagine them not being taught such an important lesson. A lesson that was the entire foundation of their society. 

“No. He expects us to think for ourselves and if an order is clearly wrong then we refuse,” Jormungandr made a foray into the conversation. He preferred to stay back and watch, striking from the shadows if necessary, but he couldn’t stand the idea of being thought of as an obedient little puppet. 

“I…see…” Castiel said as he lost himself in thought. He was having all of his beliefs challenged at once. If their suspicions were correct, and they hadn’t been denied, then Gabriel was working to prevent the apocalypse. Surely their father must be aware. He had thought, until now, that they were being tested, but they could not be expected to work against an archangel. Nor could an archangel be expected to work against heaven for sake of a test. Besides which, Gabriel had been missing for millennia. Why surface now? And why would his father allow one of his archangels to spawn beings that they were all taught were abominations? None of it made sense. 

After a period of silence, Jormungandr was getting impatient. “So what now? We kill this one and let the decent one go?” 

“We have no need to kill anyone,” Hel said evenly. 

Fenrir considered it for a moment before he turned to Uriel and waved Jormungandr back slightly. “I have one question for you and your life depends on me getting a truthful answer.” He waited until he got a glaring nod from the cruel seraph before he asked, “I want you to tell me…in detail…exactly what wounds my son received.”

When he hesitated, the tip of the archangel blade came to rest against the hollow of his throat. Castiel said, “I am ordering you to answer him, Uriel.” 

Uriel cut his eyes to glare at Castiel. Disregarding an order behind his back was one thing, and Uriel may have every intention of having him unseated as leader of the garrison, but as long as he still was, disobeying a direct order right to his face was not an option. “A shallow cut on his cheek, a deep gash on his arm, and a stab to his knee.”

Fenrir’s lip curled as he snarled. “Like that?” he asked flicking his blade over Uriel’s cheek and watching the grace seep from the wound. “And that?” he drew a long slice down the seraph’s arm. “And that?” he asked slamming the blade down through the knee as Uriel screamed. The fact that it was an archangel blade causing the damage made it worse than it would normally be, but nothing was life-threatening and Fenrir knew it. 

He then turned to Castiel, as the one in charge, and said. “You will both be free to go. You will never again be able to find me or any of my family, and if you or any other angels ever do, you will wish you hadn’t.” He waved a hand signaling his brother and sister to come with him and they headed back to their father’s house.


	9. Chapter 9

While Loki seemed to be testing how long the children could go without breathing, and everyone waited for word from the others, the babies apparently decided it was time to wake up and explore. Loki didn’t even look up from where he had his face buried between Hati and Skoll’s heads as he said, “Babies.”

Sam and Dean both got up and Sam got to Nari first, leaving Dean to grab Narfi, who seemed a little more dubious than his sister had been about this strange man in their midst. At least he wasn’t throwing a hissy fit at least. “How did he know?” Dean asked. 

“He keeps the pens warded so he’s alerted if anything uses powers to breech them,” Sam explained as he bounced Nari on his knee and Dean watched for a moment before copying him which seemed to relax Narfi a little bit, though he still didn’t seem thrilled with the stranger. After a few minutes Sam got up and motioned Dean to follow him as he strapped them into their high chairs and put a bowl of small pieces of fruit in front of each of them. Since they had turned a year old, they had been trying to get them more used to feeding themselves. They were still watched carefully to make sure they didn’t choke, of course and Sam sat down in a position to do so, Dean sitting next to him. 

“Can we…um…talk?” Dean asked, wincing at how girly he sounded, but resigning himself to the need for a chick flick moment anyway. 

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “About?” Not that they didn’t have a whole shit ton to talk about, but he wondered what in particular was on his brother’s mind. 

“Well first…you and Loki…how long have you been…you know…” he couldn’t even say it. After selling his soul to save his brother and then spending six months thinking he was dead, there was no way he was going to push him away over anything, but he still wanted to understand. 

Sam felt all his old fears about what his brother would think bubbling back to the surface. “Well…I’ve always…liked guys and girls both…but Loki…he helped me see that it was okay…and yeah…I kinda fell for him.”

“And it doesn’t bother you that he’s not human either?” Dean asked. 

“No. It doesn’t. It did at first, back when I thought that he was a monster, but once I realized that he wasn’t…it wasn’t really an issue anymore. Honestly I had more trouble getting over Dad’s homophobic brainwashing than I did that part,” Sam told him. 

Loki was listening carefully to their conversation while he just held Hati and Skoll, intending to jump in if necessary, but it seemed that Sam was handling himself just find and Dean was being more reasonable than any of them had expected. Maybe Hel really was good for him.

“So what about you and Hel?” Sam asked pointedly, suspecting that was where this line of questioning was leading. 

“I…I don’t know Sam. I really don’t. I mean…she lied to me…for so long…about so much. How do I just forget that?”

“She couldn’t tell you about me, Dean. Even if you swore to keep it secret, the angels could have plucked a stray thought from your head at any time and we would have been in this situation then. She did what she had to do to protect her family. I can’t tell you how many times she was here crying on one of us because of what you were going through and she couldn’t tell you. Please don’t hold that against her,” Sam appealed to him. 

Dean nodded. He would consider that at least, but that wasn’t all of it. “What about what she was? Where she lived? What she did for a living?”

“Well all that kinda falls under the first question. She wanted to tell you what she was. In fact, just before this happened, she asked Loki if he had any ideas for telling you without opening up the rest of this whole can of worms. That was what was stopping her…well that and the fear of you staking her. She could hardly tell you she was the ruler of the underworld without telling you that she was a goddess,” Sam joked. 

“I get it, Sammy. I do. I just…do I really know her at all?”

“Does her species or her home or her job define her as a person?” Sam asked pointedly. “Are they why you fell in love with her? Or was it her heart and her kindness? Because that’s who she really is.” His hand darted out to hold Narfi’s before he put a second piece of fruit in his mouth and he didn’t let it go until the first one was swallowed. 

“You’re really good at all this,” Dean said in awe at the ease with which his brother took care of the babies and soothed Hati. Neither of them had ever really been exposed to children. 

Sam chuckled. “I didn’t used to be. The first time I held one of these two, they were only a few months old and I nearly wet myself, I was so terrified. And don’t even get me started on the first time I had to deal with Hati and Skoll. They almost killed me. Literally,” he said amusedly. 

“But now you’re all like…Mr. Mom,” Dean pointed out. 

“It takes a little practice, but I’ve had good people around to help me find my footing,” Sam said looking fondly over at Loki who looked up and gave him a small smile. Sam was so glad of this conversation that was keeping his mind off the still missing family members, so he tried to pull Loki into it as well. “Why don’t you tell him about the first time I actually carried one of the babies.”

Loki chuckled and shifted position so he could see them as he said, “Well for the longest time, Sam wouldn’t get up with either of them. He would sit down on the couch, wait for someone to hand him a baby and sit there until someone took it back. Finally, after a few months of that, we had enough and refused. He would have to get up and put her back in the cradle himself. He actually sat there for six hours before he gave in and did it and then he looked so proud of himself, like carrying something ten feet without dropping it was the greatest achievement of his life.” 

They were all laughing openly by then, even Sam as the butt of the joke. The others took that moment to arrive in the middle of the floor. Loki noticed the blood splattering the front of his old armor right off the bat, but then the kids had already thrown themselves at their father and he dropped the blade he had still been holding on the floor and scooped them up. “Is everyone okay?” Loki asked looking them all over worriedly. 

“We’re okay. The angels are alive,” Hel told him. 

“Cas…was he…in on it?” Dean asked. He had considered Cas a friend, but if he could do something like this…to a kid…

“Castiel?” she asked him, getting a nod. “He reluctantly carried out his orders to take Skoll, but gave his own orders that he not be harmed, which the other angel under him disregarded. Fenrir inflicted the same injuries on him that he inflicted on Skoll and we let them go.” 

Loki nodded and pulled her in for a hug, relieved that she was okay. Jormungandr got the same treatment but was far less happy about it. “I think we need to address a few things before we get all happy family again,” he snapped. 

Loki narrowed his eyes at his middle child. “We can take a few minutes to celebrate the fact that everyone is alive and well, then we can put the kids down for a nap since none of them slept much last night, then we can hash out our issues. They don’t need to deal with that on top of everything else they’ve been through,” he said firmly getting a terse nod from the snake god.


	10. Chapter 10

Once all four of the little ones were tucked into bed, Hati and Skoll sharing a bed unable to cope with being separated, all of the adults gathered in the solarium, Loki hoping the peacefulness of the place would help. Dean tried to pull Hel aside, but Loki stopped him. “Let us handle our family stuff and give Jormy his chance to yell at me, and then you two can talk.”

Dean nodded. That was fair enough and the tall snake-like man did look ready to explode. Sure enough… “I told you! I told you the second you brought him into our lives that this would happen. You put all of us in danger just for one little human and now look what happened!”

“He was trying to save the world!” Sam jumped in. 

“No he was trying to save you! There are plenty of worlds out there, but somehow you were more important than his own family!” Jormungandr shot back. 

“Oh so now you’re blaming Sam!” Fenrir jumped in to defend the human that he had become very fond of. 

“If it means he stops blaming Loki then fine,” Sam said heatedly. 

“You shouldn’t even be in this! You’re not even family!” Jormungandr said nastily. 

“ENOUGH!” Loki roared to be heard over the cacophony of noise and everyone quietened to look at him. “This is not how we settle issues in this family. We do not stand here and yell over each other. We discuss things in a reasonable manner,” he said firmly, met by a glare from his middle son, but chastised looks from the rest. “Now first of all, Sam is most definitely a part of this family and has every right to be a part of this discussion, particularly when many of your issues obviously relate to him.” He waited to make sure that no one was going to object to that point before he told Jormungandr, “Now, you may say your piece…reasonably…and no one will interrupt him.” 

“I already said my piece. You put all of us in danger and we nearly lost Skoll because of it,” he snapped. 

Hel spoke next, in a small voice, “Are we all really going to ignore the obvious? It’s my fault. I got carried away with Dean and didn’t notice my monitor going off. I wasn’t sure if I’d made it out before being spotted, but instead of telling anyone I kept it to myself. This is all on me. Not Dad, not Sam, just me.”

“Can I say something?” Fenrir asked tiredly. “I think as Skoll’s father it’s my place to say that all this is a waste of time and effort. Here we are sitting here assigning blame for something that’s over and done with. Yes, bringing Sam into the family brought more danger with him, but it’s also brought a lot of good, as you would see if you would pull your head out of your ass…” Loki cleared his throat pointedly. “Sorry Dad. Sam has been a blessing to this family in more ways than one. I can agree that it would have been better if Dad discussed the issue with us before making a unilateral decision that could affect us all, but it was his decision to make either way, and I won’t fault him for it and you shouldn’t either.”

Loki leaned back into Sam at that, and Sam’s arms wrapped around his stomach as Fenrir continued speaking. “It’s also ridiculous to blame you Hela. We all knew what you were doing and we all knew how dangerous it was for you to be spending time with him while the angels were riding him so hard. We could have taken more precautions but we didn’t. That was as much my fault as anyone else’s. There is more than enough blame to go around so let’s stop arguing about whose fault it was and start thinking about how to protect ourselves in the future.”

“Well said, Fenny,” Loki said putting a hand on his eldest son’s shoulder. “Is everyone good with that?” Even Jormungandr nodded without anger this time. Even he could admit that his brother had a point, but then he had always been more likely to agree with his brother than their father. He and Loki were like oil and water. “Now. As far as preventing it…you and the kids are always welcome here. I can build on to this house or add another, whichever you prefer.”

“Or you’re welcome to come to Helheim. You know there’s always space in the castle for you,” Hel offered. Jormy was already there more often than not anyway. 

“Thank you Hela. I appreciate the offer, but you know I’m not really fond of raising my kids there. I think I will take you up on that offer Dad. I’ll decide about the housing situation later if that’s okay?” 

“Whatever you want Fenny. And the offer goes to all of you by the way, in case that wasn’t clear,” Loki told them. 

Hel rolled her eyes. “We’ve always had open invitation to anywhere you’ve lived Dad. It’s not like any of us expected that to change.”

“Just making sure it’s out there,” Loki said smiling at her as he reached out and squeezed her hand. 

“Ok so since that’s out of the way, I think you owe us an explanation on this whole archangel thing,” Jormungandr said annoyed. 

The snake god was always the one most willing to go toe to toe with their old man, but this time he said what everyone was thinking. “He’s right. I mean, we all knew that you had a whole different life before mom and us that you didn’t want to talk about, but this is big. Big enough that at least the basics shouldn’t have been kept from us,” Fenrir added. 

Jormungandr, true to form, asked the next question that everyone was thinking, but no one dared ask. “Did you know?” he asked Sam.

“No. I knew as much as you did,” Sam said honestly. 

“Perhaps I should have told you, but I did have my reasons for not telling you. If anyone else had found out, you would have been targeted. We all would have been. The fewer people that know a secret the better chance of it staying a secret, and there wasn’t really any reason for you to know. I made sure that none of my angelic powers were passed on, only the pagan ones. I wasn’t able to give you less power, but I could at least make sure nothing could be connected with angels.” 

“That’s your excuse? We would have been targeted?” Jormungandr asked incredulously. 

“I don’t just mean by other gods, Jormy, though they would have also. I mean by the other archangels too. All of heaven would have been emptied in an effort to hunt you down and kill all of us. Those were dark times and everyone was terrified of Nephilim.”

“But we weren’t…” Hel started. 

“You were close enough. Close enough to start a panic,” he said. 

“But Frisulfa…if we had known…” Fenrir said choking up at her name. 

Loki looked away. “I know. And you don’t know how much I’ve always hated myself for that. I didn’t dream that so much of my power would hold on for two generations or I would have warned you. I’m so sorry, Fenny. I know it’ll never make up for it…” he couldn’t speak anymore and Sam just held him tightly. 

Fenrir swallowed around the lump in his throat. She had been gone a long time, and his father seemed to have beaten himself up enough over it. Continuing to blame him would serve no purpose. Sam gladly relinquished his lover to his eldest son’s embrace. “I forgive you, Dad. It was a mistake. A costly one, but it wasn’t intentional or malicious. We all make mistakes.”

Loki felt the weight lift off his shoulders at his son’s forgiveness. He would still never forgive himself, but knowing that the one most harmed by it forgave him…it helped. “I’m so sorry,” he said again. 

“I know,” Fenrir said sadly as he released his father. “I don’t think there is a person in this room that hasn’t made a fatal mistake at some point in their lives. If we held each other accountable for every one there wouldn’t be anything else to talk about.”

“So what about now?” Hel asked. “They know about us now.”

“Apparently they either don’t care, are too busy with other things, or took the seraphs’ word for it that you have no grace in you because I would have heard chatter if they were coming. Of course they’ll still be after you to get to Sam, so don’t stick your necks out, but that’ll pass eventually. Once the apocalypse is no longer viable.”

“Why did you leave?” Hel asked softly. 

“Our father left. That was the first straw. He abandoned all of us and we were lost. He’d been so much a part of us that we couldn’t function without him. We were created to serve him and once he was gone there was no one to serve. It didn’t take long for everyone to self-destruct. Everyone blamed someone for him leaving and they were all at each other’s throats. I tried to stay out of it. To keep to myself. I hated the fighting.” They could all believe that. He had never been a fan of fighting and refused to allow it. “They just turned them on me for it though. I didn’t fight back so I was the easy target. It got to the point where I couldn’t get a moments peace from the spewing vitriol and even physical violence so I left. I faked my death and ran away. I was…a mess…for a long time. I became something that I never want any of you to know. Then your mother helped me to find myself and the rest is history.”

“What was your name?” Sam asked curiously. 

“Gabriel,” he whispered. “I was Gabriel.”

“Gabriel…” Sam tried it out. 

“Don’t. Please,” Loki said. “I’m not him anymore. I haven’t been for a very long time and I never will be again. I’m Loki. That’s it.”

“Okay Loki,” Sam said pressing a light kiss to his temple. He would accept that. 

“So is there anything else we need to discuss?” he asked. He knew that Dean was chomping at the bit to talk to Hel and he was looking forward to getting Sam to himself too. This whole situation had just proved to him that there was no need to keep putting off what he’d been thinking of for a while now. Thankfully there were no objections so he pulled Sam off deeper into the Solarium leaving Dean and Hel to find their own place to talk.


	11. Chapter 11

Dean pulled Hel outside so they could talk in private while Fenrir and Jormungandr headed back towards the house and Sam and Loki headed deeper into the solarium. Before Dean could even say anything, Hel said earnestly, “I wish I could have told you.”

“I know. Sam and I talked about that. I just…I don’t know if I can get past this. All the secrets and lies. How can I trust you? I want to trust you. I want to get past this. I just don’t know if I can,” Dean told her. 

She wasn’t really sure how to feel right now. He did still want her at least. She had that much going for her. “If it helps, I will give you my oath as a goddess that I will never again keep anything from you that you should know.” She hoped that would be enough because she didn’t know what more she could do. She wouldn’t blame him for leaving, but she so desperately wanted him to stay. 

“And who decides what I should know?” Dean asked pointedly. 

“I hold a great many secrets for a great many people. I won’t give up someone else’s secrets,” she told him. She would be willing to do many things in order to keep him in her life, but not that. 

Dean nodded. That was fair enough. “That oath…is it just words or is there some sort of power behind it or…”

“If I break it, I will lose all my powers and become mortal,” she told him. 

“And you would do that?” Dean asked incredulously. 

“I love you, Dean. And I have no intention of breaking that oath, so if it helps this situation, I will gladly make it.”

“I…um…okay. Yeah. It will help,” Dean stammered a bit. 

She ran a finger along her palm opening a small cut and placing her hand in Dean’s. “I give my oath to you Dean Winchester, that as long as we have a relationship, I will never keep any information from you that it is your right to know.” Dean felt a slight warming in his hand and then she pulled her own back, already healed. “It is done.”

Dean gave her a nervous smile as he leaned forward and kissed her. This was his first time doing so since he knew she was a goddess so a little trepidation was expected. Hel melted into the kiss and pressed herself tightly against him, happier than she thought she could be. Everything was out in the open and he was still here. There was still a lot to discuss about the situation they found themselves in, but this was a start. 

Once they broke apart, Dean smiled at her and said, “So I finally met your kids.”

She gave a slight chuckle. “Yes. I noticed that.”

“They’re cute,” he said. 

“They’re a handful,” she replied with a laugh. 

“Well I wasn’t gonna say…” Dean joked. “It’s good that you have family to help with them,” he said. 

“Yes. It is. Sam and my father in particular are a huge help. In fact, sometimes I have to pry them away,” she laughed. 

And that was the opening Dean wanted. He wanted to get a little more insight into Sam’s new life. “So you and Sam are close?” 

“Well he’s essentially my step-father for all intents and purposes, so yeah. Fenny and I are both close with him, and he loves all the kids. Jormy’s a different story though. He’s the typical jealous of daddy’s new boyfriend so causing as much trouble as he can. Sometimes we wonder if he’s ever grown out of puberty.” 

Dean laughed at that. “Yeah. I got that impression from him.”

“He’s being difficult but he’ll come around,” Hel assured him. “He wouldn’t dare cross the line though, so don’t worry about Sam’s safety.”

“Good. Yeah. I was a little worried. I mean, he’s powerful enough to cause some real damage,” Dean said. 

“He is, but harming a human, permanently at least, is a line that even he would never even consider crossing. And harming Sam, permanently or not, would bring father’s wrath down on him with full force. Not even his children want to be on Loki’s bad side,” she joked.

“Yeah, I can believe that,” Dean said with a laugh. “So when do I get to see where you live?” 

Hel sighed sadly. “You can’t,” she told him. He looked at her curiously so she explained. “For a mortal to step foot in Helheim is death. Unless we are bonded…or you’re dead…you can never go there.”

“Bonded? Like…married?” Dean choked. 

“Rather more serious than marriage, but essentially. Don’t worry Dean. I’m not saying that we should. I’m just saying that’s the only way you can come to the castle.” 

“Okay…right…yeah…um…” 

Dean was thrown completely off by the mention of bonding and Hel just laughed. “Come on. Let me give you the tour of the house.”

 

Loki pulled Sam back into the overhang near the pool and hot tub and kissed him deeply. “Sam, I can’t even put into words just how much your support has meant to me through this. I meant every word I said back there about you being a part of this family and I was hoping…” Loki took a deep breath to steady himself. “I was hoping you’d want to make it official and bond with me?” Sam grinned and swept Loki up in another kiss. “Is that a yes?” Loki asked hopefully. 

“That’s an ‘I love the thought, but more information would be nice’,” Sam said amusedly. 

Loki gave a nervous laugh. “Right. Sometimes I forget you don’t know everything about this stuff.” He ran a hand through his hair as he explained. “Well, it’s basically like a marriage, but more binding. The biggest thing is that you would live forever with me. You wouldn’t gain any powers or anything, but you would be immortal.”

Sam blinked at him and swallowed audibly. “I…I don’t…”

Loki’s heart dropped. He should have known it was too much. He tried to keep his inner turmoil off his face though as he said, “It’s okay if it’s too much. I understand.”

“It’s not what you think. Having you forever would be amazing. But being stuck here in this small dimension, and worse, keeping you stuck here, forever? That’s…It would get very old eventually and then we’d be at each other’s throats and I just…I couldn’t take that.” 

Loki tried not to get his hopes up at that. He knew it was possible that Sam was just latching onto an excuse that would make it feel less like a rejection. He did feel the need to dispel his fears though. “We wouldn’t have to be here forever. They’ll give up eventually and then we’ll be free. Not to mention, if we’re bonded they wouldn’t be able to use you anyway. They could technically still kill you…well the archangels could. No one else would be strong enough, but it would still be best if they gave up on their own rather than hoping they will see that you’re unsuitable for manipulation, but either way, we wouldn’t be here forever. A few more decades at the most. Once you reach the end of a human lifetime, they won’t bother anymore.”

“You’re sure?” Sam asked hopefully. 

“On the very slim chance that I’m wrong, once we start chaffing too much here, if they still haven’t stopped looking, we’ll take whatever precautions we need to take and throw the bond at them to make them leave us alone,” Loki told him. 

 

Sam considered the idea as a slow smile started to spread on his face and hope began to blossom again in Loki’s heart as he was swept up into another hard kiss. “Then yes, Loki. Yes,” he said happily, unable to keep the grin from his face. Loki literally jumped into Sam’s arms, wrapping his legs around the hunter’s waist as he kissed the life out of him. Before things could get too carried away though, Sam murmured, “Don’t forget everyone is here,” against Loki’s lips causing the trickster god to groan good-naturedly and hop down. 

“While we’re talking about big life-changing things…I was thinking…or maybe hoping…if you wanted…I mean I know you already have kids and even grandkids…but I don’t…”

It was all Loki could do not to start on one right then and there. “All you have to do is say the word, Samshine. I would love nothing more than to build onto this family with you.”

Sam had wanted a family all of his life, and now seemed like the best possible time to do so. He was about to be eternally bonded with the man he loved, he had his brother back, he had a large support system and practice with kids and babies thanks to his surrogate grandchildren. He desperately wanted. “How would it work though? I mean would we get a surrogate? Or is adoption a think for you guys?”

Loki laughed. “Oh Sammykins. Remember, I’m a god. Changing a little anatomy around is child’s play. You want a baby, I’ll give you a baby.”

“Really?” Sam asked hopefully. 

“Absolutely,” Loki practically purred as he kissed Sam again. “So what do you say we go break the news to the rest of the family?” he asked. 

“The bonding or the baby?” Sam asked. One he was good with, the other not so much yet. 

“The bonding. We’ll break the news about the baby when there is news to break,” Loki said. 

“Perfect,” Sam agreed.


	12. Chapter 12

They headed back into the main house, finding Fenrir had claimed his favorite wing-backed chair and Jormungandr one of the two recliners. Sam and Loki sat down on the couch, Sam on the end with his arm around the god who was leaning back against him. The snake god started to get up to leave, but Loki said, “Stay,” so he did, grudgingly, but he stayed. 

About that time, Dean and Hela started coming down the stairs hand in hand and Loki raised an eyebrow at them causing Dean to start stuttering, suddenly very aware what it must look like to her father and older brothers. “She was giving me a tour!” he said quickly. 

Sam immediately buried his face in the back of Loki’s shoulder biting his lip to keep from laughing as the other three quickly picked up on Dean’s expectations and decided to screw with him as they glared at him. “Oh is that what they’re calling it now?” Loki said dangerously as Fenrir growled and Sam’s shoulders were shaking now. 

Dean moved behind Hel crouching down a bit, and even Jormy got in on the action, appearing directly behind Dean and hissing menacingly in his ear, causing the hunter to squeak loudly and turn so his back was pressed against the nearest wall. “I…I don’t…we didn’t…”

Sam couldn’t hold it in anymore and he nearly fell off the couch laughing so hard. The only thing that kept him from hitting the floor was Loki’s arm going back around his waist. His laughter set everyone else off too, but there was no one to catch Fenrir before he fell. Hel was far more used to keeping a straight face through her father’s games than Sam was, so she was able to do so better, but she was just a few minutes from calling it herself before her boyfriend had a full out coronary. 

The only thing that kept Dean from blowing up at being laughed at was the way, Hela wrapped her arms around him and curled up to his side as she laughed and kissed his cheek. This was the first time she’d ever really let loose and laughed. She had chuckled or given a short quick laugh, but real gut busting, long laughter wasn’t something that he was accustomed to from her and he couldn’t help but give a nervous laugh himself as well as he looked around just to make absolutely sure he wasn’t going to be disemboweled when he had his guard down. 

“Oh relax Deano. We gave up on interfering with Hel’s personal life a few thousand years ago,” Loki said dismissively.

“Yeah she’s the only one who can come close to matching Dad in a prank war,” Fenrir said by way of an explanation. 

“The look on your face though…” Loki laughed. “Priceless.”

“Yeah yeah. Laugh it up,” he grumbled good-naturedly as he plopped down in one of the recliners, surprised when Hel sat sideways in his lap, dangling her feet over the arm of the chair. He looked a little nervously around the room at the rest of her family before he relaxed seeing that they didn’t care. 

Once everyone was all laughed out, Loki spoke again. “So Sam and I have an announcement to make.” He waited until all eyes were on him before he continued. “We are going to bond.”

Fenrir was the first to react. He hauled his father up from the couch and hugged him tightly. “That’s great pop! Congratulations.” After he put Loki down he turned his attention to Sam, hauling him up too and giving him the same treatment, even calling him dad for good measure. Hel also rose and hugged both her father and Sam tightly, kissing them both on the cheek as she gave her own congratulations. Everyone winced at the slam of the door as Jormungandr stormed out, but refused to let it dampen the mood. By the time Dean waded his way through to hug his brother, despite still not being so sure about this whole thing, he wasn’t about to rain on Sam’s parade, and he found himself being hugged by the trickster god as well. 

“So is Deano gonna be staying here too?” Fenrir asked, picking up his father’s nickname for the older hunter. 

“Huh?” Dean asked. 

“Well if we’re all in hiding, Hel can hardly visit you out there, and it’s not like you can go to Helheim, so I just assumed…” Fenrir wondered if he just stuck his foot in his mouth. 

Dean just gaped at him for a second before they could all see the wheels turning in his head. Sam looked pointedly at Loki. He knew the offer would be open for Dean to stay, but Dean didn’t know that and it would mean more coming from Loki than it would from Sam. Loki just rolled his eyes. “Just so you know, you were included in my open invitation to stay,” he told him. He had figured that was obvious. He said all of you and Dean was there so he would be part of ‘all of them’, but Sam apparently wanted it even clearer. 

Dean considered his options here. He could go back to hunting and hiding from the memories of hell and missing his brother like crazy never knowing what was going on with him, and dealing with backstabbing angels, or he could stay here. He got enough of the tour to know there was plenty to do, even. His biggest concern was being with Hel in the same house as her father and brother lived, but hell. He’d done it in high school when he really had to hide. Now it would just be uncomfortable. He could get over it. “Could I get like an apartment type room with outside access?” he asked hopefully. 

“Sure thing. Off the lounge work?” Loki asked. 

That was perfect. Dean nodded and Loki snapped his fingers. “Just one other thing…if possible…I’d really like to say goodbye to Bobby and at least tell him something about where I am and stuff. He was really messed up over Sam’s disappearance and if I just disappear too after everything else…”

“You can’t tell him who or what we are. You can tell him as much as you want about the plans of the angels and that you are with Sam being hidden from them. Once you’re back, you won’t be trapped here, per se, you can leave whenever you want, but you can’t be going back and forth. Opening a door for you to pass through increases our risk of being found and I won’t put any of my family in danger to ferry you back and forth whether they volunteer or not,” Loki laid down the rules. 

“Will I be in danger?” Dean asked. It wouldn’t matter much, but he wanted to know how careful he should be.

“That depends,” Loki said. 

“On what?” Dean asked. 

“On what they think about how much sway Sam has with us, and how much they think Hel cares about you,” Loki explained. 

“So basically, how valuable a bargaining chip they think I am,” Dean summed up. 

“Bingo. So do what you need to do and make it snappy,” Loki said. “Preferably while they’re still reeling from their ass-kicking.”

“Okay. That works. I’ll go now,” Dean said. 

“An hour be good enough?” Loki asked. 

“Make it two?” Dean asked. He didn’t want to push it too far, but thought that two would be enough. 

“Gimme a sec?” Sam asked, running upstairs to grab a notebook and pen. He would be too great of a beacon to step foot into the real world, but he could send a note for Bobby. 

He wrote quickly and then handed it to Dean before Loki gave him final instructions. “You’ll go out this front door in his front door. Be standing there waiting in two hours for me to pull you back. I won’t leave it open for more than a minute so if you’re not there then tough luck.”

Dean agreed and headed out the door to Bobby’s, leaving two very worried people behind and two more who, apart from how it would affect the others, didn’t care all that much.


	13. Chapter 13

Dean stepped into Bobby’s house and found the man himself sitting at his desk with a book. “Bobby. I…um…need to talk to you.” He had no idea where to even begin. 

“Then talk,” Bobby said gruffly not looking up from his book.

Dean sighed and reached over and took the book. “I only have two hours,” he said. 

“Two hours for what?” Bobby asked suspiciously.

“To say goodbye,” Dean said, realizing as soon as he said it that it probably wasn’t the best place to begin. 

“What damn fool thing did you get yourself into this time boy!” Bobby asked heatedly. 

“It’s not what you think. It’s not a bad thing this time Bobby. I promise I’ll explain what I can,” he said trying to placate the old man. 

“Fine,” Bobby huffed sitting back down. “But this better be good.”

He knew that if he mentioned Sam first they would get sidetracked with a ton of other questions. Questions that he didn’t mind answering, but that weren’t nearly as important as the rest. “Turns out the angels are working to start the apocalypse too. Stopping the seals from breaking is impossible. They were just trying to keep me busy,” Dean started. 

“Well I knew that,” Bobby said and Dean looked at him incredulously. “Out of six hundred and sixty-six seals only sixty six need to break. You’d need a whole army and then some to actually succeed at that job. Didn’t know they wanted it to start though.”

“Yeah. Turns out after I went to hell things were supposed to kick up a notch. I was used to break the first seal and Sam was supposed to be used to break the last. While I was being led around by the angels he was supposed to be led around by the demons and he and I were the vessels for Michael and Lucifer for the big boom.”

“Well hell,” Bobby said as he grabbed a bottle of whiskey and chugged it straight. 

“That’s why Sam disappeared. See there’s a faction of beings out there that don’t want the apocalypse to happen. They’ve been hiding him so that he can’t be used, and things are getting sticky for me now too so I’m going into hiding with them.”

“You found your brother?” Bobby asked. Dean nodded. “And you didn’t lead with that you damn idjit!” he yelled swatting Dean a few times with his ball cap for emphasis. 

“Ow! Bobby! Come on!” 

“Next time start with that!” 

“Okay Bobby! Sorry! Geez,” Dean said as the swatting stopped. “But anyway, they’re good people…er beings…that he’s with.” 

“So they’re not human but you’re not after them?” Bobby asked narrowing his eyes. He, more than most hunters, believed that just because it wasn’t human didn’t mean it was evil, but Dean was a little more narrow minded than him usually. 

“I can’t tell you much about them without compromising the setup, but I will say this much. Sam…he’s happy Bobby. Like, really happy. All his life I’ve never once seen that kid happy, and you know me. I wouldn’t be fooled by any brainwashing or false front or anything else that anyone could come up with.”

“So what happened to set all this off?” Bobby asked. 

“Well you know the girl I’ve been seeing?” Bobby nodded. “She’s one of them. Apparently we met when Sam asked her to check in on me and see how I was doing and it kinda snowballed from there. But anyway, the angels spotted her with me, figured she might know something about where Sam was and kidnapped and tortured her eight-year-old nephew. They’re all going into lockdown now along with Sam and I’m going with them. I don’t want to be separated from Sam again. Or her.”

“And you’re sure they’re on the up?” Bobby asked. If he had to lose his boys at least they were getting out. At least they would have peace. If Sam was really that happy, then maybe Dean would be too. And he got closure on what happened to Sam. 

“Yeah. I am. Oh and Sam sent this for you,” Dean said as he handed over the note. 

“He couldn’t come with you?” 

“Nah. He’s too hot. They haven’t had time to put out the SOS orders on me yet. That’s why I only have two hours. I gotta get back before anyone notices that I’ve surfaced,” Dean explained. 

“How long will you be gone for?” Bobby asked. 

“Until the angels give up and stop watching. Maybe forever,” he told him. 

Bobby nodded. “Then sit back and have a drink with me one last time.” 

Dean grinned and did as he was told and they spent a long time talking. They only had fifteen minutes left when Dean heard a rustle of wings and jumped to his feet pulling the angel blade that Loki had given him, not the archangel one of course. He turned the blade menacingly on Castiel. “I come in peace, Dean,” the seraph said in his gravelly voice as he raised his hands in surrender. 

“What do you want Cas? You run out of little kids to kidnap and torture?” he asked heatedly. 

“That wasn’t my idea. I ordered Uriel not to harm the child,” he protested. 

“Yeah well leaving a kid with Uriel was your first mistake,” he scoffed. “I ask again. What do you want?” 

“I want you to give my brother a message for me,” Cas told him. 

“What brother,” Dean tried to play dumb. 

“Gabriel…”

“I don’t know any Gabriel,” Dean said quickly. 

“It doesn’t matter. Just listen,” Cas told him impatiently. “Tell him to be careful. There is a lot of infighting right now on what to do about him and his offspring. They are redoubling their efforts to find Sam and they will be coming for you too. They want to keep you secured until they need you so you don’t disappear on them as well. Tell Gabriel…Tell him to keep his family hidden. They will use anyone and everyone to get to him.”

“Why are you doing this Cas?” Dean asked relaxing his grip on the blade. 

“Because I need to start thinking for myself,” he said with a half-smile. He would emulate the only brother he could respect. 

“Anything else…if I ever meet this Gabriel guy I mean?” Dean asked. 

“Just tell him that I’m sorry. And that I miss him,” Cas looked up nervously. “I must go. They are looking for me. I’ll try to lead them away from you.”

“I just need fifteen minutes Cas. Then get yourself safe too,” Dean told him. Cas nodded as he disappeared. 

“So you’re being hidden by the archangel Gabriel and his illegal family huh?” Bobby said downing another shot of whiskey. “So you’re dating an archangel’s daughter,” Bobby realized as he nearly shot half the whiskey out of his nose. 

“Oh it’s worse than that,” Dean said with a laugh. “She has two older brothers too.”

Bobby laughed heartily, feeling a lot better about this whole situation now that he knew something about who they would be with. It made sense if there were angels working for hell and angels working for heaven that there would be some that were neutral as well. The archangel of justice and mercy seemed like the most obvious choice. He would trust Sam and Dean’s judgement. 

“Seriously though, Bobby. Please. Just try to forget you ever heard the name Gabriel. You know nothing about him or his family. You never know what tiny breadcrumb they can use, and they can pluck whatever information they want right out of your head.”

So much for his peace of mind. He gave a heavy sigh. “Guess I’m finishing off this bottle tonight then,” he said looking at the still mostly full whiskey. He just hoped he remembered Dean saying goodbye. At least he had Sam’s note to jog that part of his memory. He looked at the time. They were almost out of it. He pulled Dean into a bear hug. “You take care of yourself boy. And take care of your brother. I hope to hear from you if it’s safe. If not, have a nice life and be happy. Both of you.”

Dean nodded as he felt the tears prickle behind his eyes. He knew that more likely than not, this was goodbye forever. He would never see Bobby again. “I’ll miss you Bobby,” he said softly as the door began to glow. “I think that’s my ride. Take care old man.”

“You too, kid. You too,” Bobby muttered as Dean stepped into the light.


	14. Chapter 14

As soon as Dean was back through he looked at Loki. “I have a message for you. Cas says to keep your family hidden well. There is a lot of infighting right now about what to do about all of you. They’re coming for me to, to keep be locked up somewhere until they need me so I don’t do a runner too and they’re looking even harder for Sam. He also says that he’s sorry and he misses you.”

Loki didn’t even bother trying to speak. He just gave what he hoped was a politely thankful nod, and turned and headed upstairs. He’d had too much today. The emotional rollercoaster was slamming him full force and that was just the last straw. Sam looked after him and said, “Thanks Dean,” before following his soon to be bondmate upstairs. He caught up to him in their bedroom where he found Loki sitting on the end of the bed, elbows on his knees and his forehead resting in the palms of his hands. “Lo?” 

“Millennia, Sam. I’ve gone millennia without having to deal with even the thought of…them. And now they’re everywhere. Them hating me…okay. It sucks, but I came to terms with that a long time ago, but this…I don’t know how to deal with this. Knowing that I was able to make a difference for him just peripherally like that…was I wrong to leave? Would everything be better if I was still there?”

“Don’t do that, Loki. Don’t second guess yourself,” Sam said kneeling in front of him and running a hand through his hair. “You did what you had to do for you. And if you had stayed, sure there is a chance things may have been better. Or things may have been worse. They may have broken you and you would be part of the problem and no one would be here to stop it. Fenny, Jormy, and Hel wouldn’t exist and neither would the little ones. You and I wouldn’t have met…need I go on? 

Loki raised his head, and put a hand to the back of Sam’s, pulling their foreheads together. “I get it Sam. It’s just…” he trailed off. 

“Everything crashing down all at once and overwhelming you,” Sam finished with a knowing half smile. “Just remember, you don’t have to deal with it alone anymore.”

Loki leaned forward capturing Sam in a short sweet kiss. “You are so amazing, Sam. Truly. Thank you.”

Sam smiled and kissed him again, a little more deeply. “I’ll always be here for you Loki,” he whispered. 

They sat there just holding each other for a few minutes while Loki pulled himself under control before he asked hopefully, “Do you want to bond now?”

“How does it work?” Sam asked. “What do I have to do?”

“All you have to do is just sleep with me. I’ll take care of the rest,” Loki told him amusedly. 

Sam chuckled. “Then yeah. Let’s do this thing. But…um…” Loki raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to spit it out. “Maybe we could…um…work on a baby too…if you want?” 

Loki grinned and spun Sam onto the bed so he was straddling the hunter’s lap. “Oh I want, Sammykins. Most definitely,” he said already modifying his physiology to be able to carry one. He had no intention of changing his outer physiology though so it required a little re-plumbing, but it was well within his abilities and took him less than a minute, during which he was already working on unbuttoning Sam’s shirt as he kissed him senseless. “You sure about this Sammy? Once it’s done there’s no going back,” he asked as he settled the palm of his hand in the center of Sam’s now bare chest. 

Sam wasn’t sure if he was talking about the bond or the baby, but either way the answer was the same. “Absolutely,” he breathed out just before he felt like he’d been punched in the chest followed by a soothing warmth flooding through his entire body. It felt like home, safety, love, acceptance, and arousal all rolled up into one and it was intoxicating. Loki leaned forward resting his head against Sam’s, eyes closed as he breathed deeply and Sam could tell he was feeling the same things. He had the overwhelming urge to kiss Loki, but wasn’t sure if it would mess anything up. Loki soon took the decision out of his hands though as he tilted forward enough for their lips to meet and kissed him long and slow and full of just as much feeling as they both had flooding their bodies. It was the most perfect moment Sam could ever picture. 

The hunter didn’t even notice all their clothes disappearing and barely noticed Loki lowering himself on Sam’s cock without breaking the kiss. They moved together slow and steady, milking every bit of emotion and meaning they could manage out of the moment. When they had to break the kiss to breathe they didn’t go far as their breaths mingled and their moans picked up along with the pace. “I love you Loki,” Sam whispered as he brushed the trickster god’s sweaty hair away from his eyes. “Forever.”

“And I love you, my darling Samshine. For as long as I exist,” Loki whispered back trapping Sam in another kiss as their motions sped up again and they could both feel themselves getting close. Sam reached up and wrapped his hand around Loki’s length and started stroking him in time with their thrusts and they were swallowing each other’s whimpers and moans as they headed for the edge together. Sam’s free hand was firmly around the back of Loki’s neck holding their lips together as he thrust up one more time grunting into the kiss as he spilled over inside the god causing Loki to follow quickly after. 

Once they were spent, Loki’s hand finally moved from Sam’s chest up to the side of his neck as Loki’s thumb caressed the hunter’s cheek and the kiss turned gentle and slow once more and the emotional overload started to slowly fade. When they pulled apart for air again, they once again didn’t go far, and Sam breathed out in awe, “That was…the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“Mmm,” Loki hummed, not opening his eyes yet, just drinking in the moment. “Yeah,” he whispered nuzzling against the hunter’s face and pressing feather light kisses there. 

After a long moment, Sam asked, still in a whisper, “Is it always like that? The bonding?” 

“I would imagine,” Loki told him, finally sliding off the hunter to curl up to his side, no less blissed out. 

“You don’t know?” Sam asked curiously. 

“We only get one bond, Samshine,” he said softly pressing a kiss to Sam’s shoulder. “It is eternal after all.”

Sam knew that, logically, but it hadn’t really registered with him that out of all the beings that had ever existed or would ever exist in the future, Loki had chosen him as the one and only being he would tie himself to for the rest of existence. It was…he didn’t even have words. Loki was essentially proving to him by the very action that in all the countless years he’d been alive, he had never loved anyone and would never love anyone as much as he did Sam. The hunter couldn’t have stopped the tears that began to fall even if he wanted to as he turned his head and rested his lips against the top of Loki’s head and vowed to never make the god regret it. 

It was a little while before Sam remembered the other ramification of the evening. “So…will you know when you’re…um…pregnant?” he asked. It just felt so weird referring to Loki as pregnant. 

“There’s no hit and miss with us, like there is with humans,” Loki pointed out. 

“So that means…you already are?”

“Will be shortly. Takes a little time to settle and all,” he said amusedly. 

“Will you be able to tell things like whether it’s a boy or girl or twins like seem to run in the family or…”

“I could with a little effort, but personally I’d rather be surprised.”

“Right…yeah…okay…” Sam said mind going a hundred directions at once. 

“If you’d rather know though…” Loki let the offer hang. 

“I…I don’t know, honestly. Maybe?” 

“Well it’ll be a while before I could tell at all so just let me know when you decide,” Loki said with a chuckle before he sobered. The hunter was acting very nervous about this all of a sudden. “You are still good with this right?” 

“Yeah…absolutely…great…I’m just…It’s real now,” Sam managed to get out and then stop babbling. 

Loki grinned. He got it now. He could remember being that way with his first too. It had been so long ago. “Yeah. It is,” he said happily snuggling tighter against Sam’s side. 

 

As the baby was forming in Loki, a hunted seraph was ripping out his grace and falling. An absent father gave fate a little nudge and the fallen seraph settled within his brother’s womb.

**Author's Note:**

> Since I'm very close to 1000 incoming comments I'm going to run a little game. Whoever sends the 1000th comment gets to name the baby as long as it's nothing stupid or related to Castiel since they won't know that it's him yet.


End file.
